You know how obnoxious Captain Obvious can be. You just want to yell at them and say, "Any blind idiot can tell what's going on!" But then there are those Captains Obvious who can not only tell what is going on, but ask a stupid question just to verify.

This is not only when that question is asked, but to the frustrated individual this is their chance to strike back with a non-sequitur, either in a Deadpan Snarker retort or full on Mind Screw confusion. A specific variation of Sarcasm Mode.

Bill Engvall's "Here's Your Sign" routine was dedicated to these exchanges. MAD also had a section called "Snappy Answers To Stupid Questions" written by Al Jaffee.

Of course, if you decide to avert the inevitable sarcastic retort by not seeking explicit confirmation that your friend with the house full of boxes is actually moving, nine times out of ten it will turn out (after a generous helping of Poor Communication Kills) that he is just having the house fumigated.

While the overall premise of Bill Engvall's recurring "Here's Your Sign" routine is that stupid people should wear signs advertising the fact, his experiences in encountering people who qualify often take this form. For example:

Bill:[to gal at lost luggage counter] Yes, ma'am, you lost my luggage. Lost luggage clerk: Has your plane landed yet? [beat]Bill: I said, "No, princess, I'm having an out-of-body experience!" [beat] "I was just checkin' on it."

And this classic:

Random Guy: (points to a buck's head mounted on Bill's wall) "Ya' shoot that deer?"

Man 2: (at the end of a ticket line): No, this is the beginning! We're all facing backwards.

An Archie Comics one-shot featured Moose asking these sorts of questions. It was titled, "D-uh! Really Dumb Questions!" It even featured the classic "What's the number for 911?" line.

Random guy: Actually, I'm not an only child! I have an identical twin brother! Moose: Really? What does he look like?

Buck Danny: On seeing Sonny emerge on deck with a hat festooned with hooks and lures, five fishing rods, and a huge basket...

Buck: Is he going fishing, do you think? Tucker: No, he's going fishing! Buck: Really! I could have sworn he was going fishing.

The French comic Agent 212 has the titular beat cop on the scene of a grisly murder. The commissioner tells him to draw a Chalk Outline around the body. The squeamish 212 asks "Who? Me?", the commissioner replies "Yes, you. I'd have asked His Holiness the Pope, but he was busy this morning."

Azula: I'm great. I just love it here in the madhouse, where I'm not allowed to bend and everyone flinches at the sight of me, and where I can't even get a decent cup of tea because I'm supposed to be recovering from some kind of terrible disease of the mind. I'm so glad to be here, where I'm not a menace to society. And that freedom nonsense just wasn't for me anyway.

Sokka: I get it. No need for sarcasm. It was just a question.

Azula: It was a stupid question. Of course I'm not doing well. Idiot.

Sokka: I'm not an idiot. I was trying to be nice.

In Why Salazar Left Salazar Slytherin, attracted to a time-traveling Harry, is busy charming a dozen roses to change color.

Godric Gryffindor: Salazar, what in the name of Myrrdid's white beard are you doing? Salazar: What does it look like I'm doing, Godric? I'm preparing for the Crusades, of course.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is absolutely riddled with this trope, coming from several characters, though it's a particular speciality of Gay Perry.

For example, after Harry finds a corpse dumped in his room:

Perry: OK, first thing's first: we gotta move her somewhere. You got gloves? Harry: Excuse me? Perry: Gloves, do you have gloves? We have to move her. If it's a frame-up, some asshole's probably calling the cops on you right now. Do this: wrap up the body, in a blanket, a sheet, anything. Harry: OK, uh... any particular kind of gloves? Perry: Yes... fawn. Will you fucking hurry?

And of course:

Perry: My $2000 ceramic Vektor my mother got me as a special gift. You threw in the lake next to the car. What happens when they dredge the lake? You think they'll find my pistol? Jesus. Look up "idiot" in the dictionary. You know what you'll find? Harry: A picture of me? Perry: No! The definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!

Jean: This is the first time we've seen each other in God knows how many years. Reg: Ninety-seven. Cissy: (gasps) Is it really that long? God, how time flies. (realization) You're joking.

In V for Vendetta, When Evey first meets V she asks him who he is, to which he comments:

V: "Who" is but the form, following the function of "what", and what I am is a man in a mask. Evey: Well, I can see that. V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation. I am merely commenting on the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

The Full Monty: Gaz asks his friend Dave to “borrow” a jacket for a funeral from the store where he works:

In Eve of Destruction, a counter-terrorist expert Jim McQuade is recruited by a scientist to hunt down a nuclear-armed android. At one point the scientist asks McQuade what his speciality is. Before telling his military credentials, McQuade snarks, "My speciality is a spinach lasagna in a tomato-basil sauce."

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory: When Travis Dane and his mercenaries interrupt the two lovebird officials they need to interrogate to activate the Kill Sat, Dane mocks them for their office romance, leading to this:

David Trilling: Is that what this is about? Travis Dane: Ugh, yeah, right! I, uh... faked my own death and hijacked a passenger train because I care about who you're fucking! No, I was just wondering what other rules you might be willing to break.

There's one in the opening minutes of Avengers: Age of Ultron, though the tone is more resigned dread than sarcastic.

Rachel: No way. George Washington? Marco: Jake, tell her, "No, Guido Washington." Jake: Marco would like me to pass along a sarcastic remark.

In Magic Strikes, Kate Daniels is in a strange kitchen trying to make coffee, only someone has rearranged all the labels on the containers so she can't find anything.

"Looking for something?" Dali came up from the hallway. "No, I'm dancing the can-can." Ask a dumb question... Dali blinked at me. "Would you mind making coffee while you're dancing? I smell it on the bottom shelf, either first or second jar on the left."

Sherlock Holmes'sWar of the Worlds: Sherlock Holmes tells Dr. Watson how one of the invading machines was going after him. Watson exclaims "And you escaped!", to which Holmes replies "No, Watson. I was caught and killed by the machines."

"Catching up on our reading, are we?" "No, I'm trying to burn a hole through paper with my retina."

In the Agatha Christie novel Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, a boy comes across a scene with a wrecked car whose front-end is smashed into a stone wall with an injured woman hanging halfway out of the car. The boy asks, "Has there been an accident?" prompting another character to say, "No, the lady ran her car into the wall on purpose." Though as a matter of fact, the lady did run her car into the wall on purpose.

The Dark Tower book Wizard and Glass has Eldred Jones ask his second-in-command how many of their men are armed. The second asks, "With guns?" prompting Jones to reply, "No, with pea-blowers, you damned fool."

Referenced but averted in the Discworld short story "The Sea and Little Fishes". When Granny Weatherwax is trying to be "nice", Nanny is surprised to see her looking at a pink cardigan. Nanny's reaction is "You're not going to wear that, are you?" She would have been reassured to get the reply "No, I'm going to eat it, you daft old fool", but instead Granny just says "You don't think it would suit me?"

In Men at Arms, the first biological dwarf in the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch, Constable Cuddy, keeps getting asked by incredulous citizens "Are you a dwarf?" He has snarky replies like "It's the nose, isn't it?" and "Are you a giant?"

An old Jewish guy runs through the station, trying to catch his train, but the train drives off before his eyes. "Ha, you missed your train?" some laughing idiot asks him. "No," he says, "I chased him away."

An old Jewish guy tries to cross a frozen lake, but suddenly collapses into the ice. At that moment, a wise guy walks by the banks and shouts, "Hey, you! Did you fall through the ice?" "No!" says the old guy, "I went for a swim, but then winter surprised me."

Cuddy: (Chase and Cameron are) sleeping together? House: If by "sleeping together" you mean "having sex in the janitor's closet". Cuddy: Here? House: No, the janitor's closet at the local high school. Go Tigercats!

Dorothy: Have you ever given a eulogy? Rose: You mean at a funeral? Dorothy: No, Rose, at a pie-eating contest!

Another:

Dorothy:(referring to her and her boyfriend) We...experimented. Rose: With what? Dorothy: Sulfur dioxide, Rose.

One memorable incident has Rose give it back.

Dorothy:[seeing Rose coming out of her room with a bucket in each hand] Oh Rose. Is your roof leaking too? Rose: No Dorothy. I just finished milking the cow I keep in my closet. Gee with only three hours sleep I can be as bitchy as you!

Another Dorothy moment:

Dorothy: It's dirty dancing, just like in that movie. Rose: What movie? Dorothy:Lawrence of Arabia, Rose.

Frasier: Roz, that was quite a flattering description. Just out of curiosity, were you just helping that lady with her fantasy, or do you really see me that way? Roz: You really don't know, do you? Frasier, I am so attracted to you. I always have been. Your looks, your voice, you don't know how many times I've wanted to strip naked and hurl myself at that glass partition like a bug on a windshield. Frasier: Are you through? Roz:(bopping him on the head) Well, ask a stupid question!

Repeatedly on , mainly by C.J. in response to moronic press questions, but everyone else as well:

Mandy: Who was the last president to commute a [death] sentence? Josh: Lincoln. Mandy:(surprised) Abraham? Josh: No, Burt Lincoln.

And another:

C.J.: There's an article I want you to read in The New Yorker. Josh: What's it about? C.J.: Smallpox. Josh: The disease? C.J.: No, the dessert topping, Josh. Yes, the disease!

And another one from "The Portland Trip":

Ainsley: I cannot turn the heat down. Donna: Have you tried? Ainsley: No, I just looked at the thermostat and got discouraged!

Played for drama in "Noel"; at one point, an American military pilot has experienced a nervous breakdown and gone rogue, flying his plane across the Sierra Madre and not responding to orders to land. President Bartlet asks whether there's a way to bring the plane down without shooting it down, but freely and openly admits that he knows it's a silly question and the answer's almost certainly "no"; he's just asking anyway because he clearly doesn't relish the thought of having to order that an American pilot be shot down by other American pilots.

Subverted on one occasion, however. The American military is planning a military intervention in Kazakhstan in order to try and prevent a major war breaking out between Russia and China over oil supplies. The President's military advisors are briefing him on the military strategies and hi-tech military equipment that will be used when President Bartlet asks a seemingly irrelevant question about what coats they'll wear. Everyone looks a bit incredulous and the Secretary of Defense responds with a couple of condescending remarks in typical fashion of this trope... until Bartlet points out that they'll be invading in the middle of November, it starts snowing in Kazakhstan in August and doesn't stop until June, and the American military hasn't fought in a cold environment in a long while, making it actually a pretty good question. And his tone makes it clear that he doesn't appreciate the Secretary's snideness. Since it's pretty clear that they hadn't actually considered this, the Secretary and the rest look a bit humbled.

Buffy: No, I think you're up in the clock tower with a high-powered rifle because you wanna blend in.

In "The Wish", Cordelia, oblivious to the fact that Xander's a vampire in this reality, tells him that they need to find Buffy pronto.

Xander:(warily) ...Buffy. The Slayer?

Cordelia: No! Buffy the dog-faced girl!

Cordy gets another one in "Out of Mind, Out of Sight":

Harmony:(reading a chocolate Cordelia plans to hand out for May Queen votes) "C for Cordelia?"

Cordelia: "No, C for Wilma, little brain."

Used epically in an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, after Dick learned his girlfriend slept with his nemesis Dr. Strudwick once.

Dick: I can't get his face out of my mind! Nina: Strudwick's? Dick:([serene voice) No, Nina, little Davey Tenant, the boy down the block. You see, ever since Davey was three years old, he's wanted more than anything to see a real professional baseball game. He wished the biggest wish his little heart could muster. But his dad was laid off and couldn't afford the tickets. Well, one day last week, little Davey was outside playing ball like he always does, and who should walk up the block, tall as a building, but home run king Mark McGwire. To see little Davey's face light up as McGwire handed him four seats on the first base line, well, it's something that I will never forget. (pause) YES, STRUDWICK'S! DON'T ASK STUPID QUESTIONS!

To those who've read the original Sherlock Holmes story upon which this episode is based (A Study in Scarlet), this is a hilariously subversive application of the trope: the police believe they have to look for a "Rachel," before Holmes points out that "Rache" is German for "Revenge", which is the major plot point.

In The Jack Benny Program, Jack can't get a busy receptionist to talk to him, so he calls her from one of the other phones on her desk. She says Mr. Lewis isn't available, but she can have him call Jack back...

Receptionist: Are you at home, or are in you in Palm Springs? Jack: I'm in Stockholm! Smorgasbord, 8321!

Rory: Okay, I'm trapped inside a giant robot replica of my wife. I'm really trying not to see this as a metaphor. Amy: How can we be in here? How do we fit? Rory: Miniaturization Ray. Amy: How would you know that? Rory: Well, there was a ray, and we were miniaturized...

Rimmer: Lister, is that a cigarette you're smoking? Lister: No, it's a chicken.

In the Blue Bloods episode "Leap of Faith," Danny Reagan thinks some small town detectives could've been more thorough with their investigation of the death of the first Mrs. Bines.

Danny: And where was Mister Bines during all this? Detective: Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. He was at the arsenic store.

On Nip/Tuck, as Dr. Christian Troy asks an extremely large-breasted woman the standard question the doctors ask their potential patients:

Troy: Tell me what you don't like about yourself. Woman:[deadpans]My nose. [she and Troy both crack up at this]Woman: Ask A Stupid Question, doctor. . .

Blackadder the Third: subverted in "Dish and Dishonesty" where the person receiving an actual answer assumes he's gotten this type of response.

Vincent Hanna: Well, can you at least tell me one thing? What does the 'S' in his name stand for? Blackadder: Sod off. note It was established earlier that Baldrick thinks this is his name due to the other kids saying it when he introduced himself. "Hi, my name's Baldrick." "Yes, we know. Sod off, Baldrick."Vincent Hanna: Well. I guess it's none of my business, really.

Woops: In one episode, the group harvests some squash that has been mutated by radiation.

Alice: Does anybody know how long it takes mutant squash to ripen? Fred:(deadpan) Three days. (looks at other characters and rolls his eyes.)

In the comedy panel show Would I Lie to You?, Armando Ianucci's story was that, "I once had to abandon my car in a safari park after a baboon climbed in through the sunroof, lay down on the back seat and went to sleep.". Regular David Mitchell followed suit with a obvious question.

David: Right, where in the safari park was the car?

Rob: (sarcastically) In the lion enclosure.

During the ensuing shouting match with Rob (the host), David maintained that the question wasn't stupid, since the baboon may have escaped.

House of Anubis- When Victor is padlocking the attic door, Trudy comes up and asks,

Trudy: What are you doing?

Victor: Baking a cake. What does it look like I'm doing?

Celebrity Mole:Yucatan: In one of the games, the players had to answer a series of questions taken from elementary school textbooks. At one point, the host, Ahmad Rashad, had this exchange with Dennis Rodman :

Rashad: On what continent would you find the South Pole? Rodman: We have to name it? Rashad:(sarcastically) No, you just have to think it and I'll read your mind!

In season 14, episode 5 of Top Gear, the presenters are tasked with creating motorhomes from ordinary cars. Jeremy's presentation for this challenge was a car with a two-story tower block built on the back. The three of them go camping out in a windy field, and predictably, Jeremy's tower block car is knocked over. Then this exchange happens the next morning:

Referenced (although not a true example of the trope) in Tom Lehrer's "New Math" while explaining how to solve a math problem in Base Eight:

Now instead of four in the eights place You've got three, 'cause you added one, That is to say, eight, to the two, But you can't take seven from three, So you look at the sixty-fours. "Sixty-four? How did sixty-four get into it?" I hear you cry. Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don't you see? Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.

New Media

Given the nature of the internet, you can expect this to happen in many forums or sites.

Pro Wrestling

Quite a lot of interview segments will have wrestlers, usually heels, insult or intimidate interviewers for asking obvious questions.

Puppet Shows

Used in Muppets in Space, when Gonzo sits upright in bed quickly, accidentally launching Rizzo the Rat out the window.

In Dinosaurs episode "What Sexual Harris Meant", Earl comes home early because someone died at work.

Fran: Oh my goodness, what happened??

Earl: Fran, we push down trees for a living. You figure it out!

Tabletop Games

Paranoia supplement "Acute Paranoia", adventure "Outland-ISH". The Troubleshooters try to find out the source of a drug affecting ISH sector by questioning the residents.

Troubleshooter: How did all these people get drugged? Drugged Citizen: They drank the water. Snrfff. Troubleshooter: The drug is in the water? Drugged Citizen: Sklaxxl. No, the drug is on the inside of the cups! Of course it's in the water. Hrraww.

"You're asking me," you reply, "if I noticed anything weird while I was getting my ass handed to me by a magical floating sausage that used to be a woman and then was briefly a big tentacle monster? Because no. That's pretty much a normal day for me. Why — did you notice anything weird?"

In Mass Effect's Pinnacle Station DLC, Shepard can get briefed on the eponymous Station's virtual combat simulator from Tech Officer Ochren, the salarian in charge of its operation. This dialogue can ensue during the briefing complete with a snippy retort from Ochren.

Grif: Fuck off, Blue, a ship just crashed on one of our guys. Church: What, this ship? Simmons: No, another ship, then that ship left and this ship crashed in the exact same spot.

The classic one...

Donut: What state were you named after? Tex: Nevada.

Tex wasn't finished, either...

Sarge: Tex, this is Sarge. Do not detonate the bomb. Tex: I don't have a detonator. It's on a timer. Grif: A countdown timer? Tex: No, a countup timer. It goes from one to explode. Of course a countdown timer, you idiot!

Brazilian website Kibeloco has a comic story where a guy invites his girlfriend to watch a moviewith him. After he says the title is "Tubarões Assassinos" (Killer Sharks), she asks what the movie is about and he says it's about a horse who wants to be a singer.

Web Original

Not Always Right, a website about bizarre customers, has too many examples of this trope to list.

And this one from the Egosoft forum. Ego's latest game, X Rebirth has had a release date of Real Soon Now since roughly March 2011, and that thread is basically endless "When's it coming out?" A page later, the one Egosoft employee who interacts with the forum on a regular basis rounds up a dozen or so of his coworkers to come onto the forum and say, "I'm still alive."

The Spoony Experiment has two examples: during the review of Clones of Bruce Lee, a character mentions Bruce Lee and another character asks "The actor?". Spoony sarcastically responds, "No, the golfer." Later, during Spoony's review of Ripper, a character mentions that technology similar to what the Ripper (a serial killer) is using was recently stolen from her. The main character asks, "And you think the Ripper did it?"

Mike: "No, actually this is a different Manos: a delightful Pixar film - of course it's the Hands of Fate!"

Western Animation

A backwards example where Skipper gets sick of a stupid answer and returns with a stupid question happens in The Penguins of Madagascar, Sting Operation.

Skipper: What do you make of it, Kowalski? Kowalski: I'm not sure, Skipper. It could be anything.Skipper: Oh really? Could it be Alaska? Kowalski: No, it's probably not— Skipper: Are you saying Alaska might be stuck upside down to the clock tower of my zoo? Kowalski: I guess— Skipper: Because I think people would notice if the entire state of Alaska just... packed up and... moved to the zoo! Kowalski: All right, maybe it couldn't be anything!

Solomon Grundy gives Superman a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that involves — among other things — punching him through several buildings, smashing him between two cars, and tossing him through the supports of a suspension bridge. After that last one, Superman climbs out onto a pier, not only bruised and battered but dripping wet as well, and:

In the Elefun and Friends short "A Tangled Tale", Elefun follows a kite string all the way to China, where he and his friends see a panda trying to launch herself across a river using a piece of bamboo. The bamboo gets stuck halfway, leaving her dangling and leading to this conversation:

Rainbow Dash: Pinkie Pie, you asleep yet? Pinkie Pie: No. Are you asleep yet? Rainbow Dash: If I was sleeping, how could I have asked you if you were asleep? Pinkie Pie: Oh yeah. (giggles)Rainbow Dash: When we get to Appleloosa, you think we'll have to carry that heavy tree all the way from the train to the orchard? Pinkie Pie: What tree? You mean Bloomberg? Rainbow Dash:No, Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie:Fluttershy's not a tree, silly. Fluttershy:I'd like to be a tree.

Natasha: Boris, did you get blown up by your own bomb again? Boris: No, I'm up here robbing bird's nests! Natasha: But why? Boris: It keeps me off the streets, that's why! About six feet off.

In another example the "sarcastic" answer is actually the truth, but the man being answered thinks this trope is what's happening.

Man: Hi there Bullwinkle, what's the rush? Bullwinkle: We're being chased by a man eating plant! Man: Well, ask a foolish question, you get a foolish... [plant eats him]

The animated Punky Brewster episode "Growing Pain" has Glomer growing in size due to an allergy to pepperoni pizza. He is taken to a gym where he attempts to use a weights machine but is catapulted back and wedged within the bars of the machine:

In the Codename: Kids Next Door episode "Operation: CAKED-THREE". Numbuh One was enthusiastic about Numbuh Two's plan to attack the Delightful Children by using a weapon that uses "a kajillion eggs" as ammunition, until...

Numbuh One: This is stupid! Why did you put the kajillion eggs in my room?!

Numbuh Two: Well, I certainly wasn't going to put them in my room.

Max Goof on Goof Troop did this with his friend PJ after he had collapsed into a covered trench behind him back-first onto a pipe.

In one Astronut cartoon, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Telestar" Astronut accidentally brings down a satellite. Two crooks get it and decide to hold the satellite for ransom. Astronut solves the problem by using his ship's tractor beam to pull the satellite back into orbit…while the crooks are holding it. The short ends with the crooks sitting on the satellite as it floats through space, whereupon one crook asks the other, "I know this is a stupid question, Clyde, but, how are we gonna explain this to our parole officer?"

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